Update: The study’s author Greg Perreault responded to a number of questions we had about the methodology he used to come to his conclusions. When asked how much time he put into each game chosen for the study, he said:

Australian video game industry trade group Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA) and Bond University have released their latest Digital Australia report, which details the habits of Australian game players and consumers.

According to the latest report, found here (PDF), 68 percent of Australians play video games, with the average age of players at around 33-years-old. While the majority of players are male, an impressive 47 percent of players are female.

The BBC is giving away a million free computers to every grade seven child, according to this report in Eurogamer. The computer, billed as the "BBC micro:bit," is a pocket-sized, codeable computer - and one million have been earmarked for every 11 or 12-year-old child in year 7 or equivalent in the UK for free.

Daybreak Game Company LLC has announced the two winners of the 2015 Gamers in Real Life (G.I.R.L.) Scholarship. The recipients of this year's scholarships are Grace Kim of Aurora, Colo., and Cherylynn Lima of Brentwood, Calif. Now in its eighth year, the G.I.R.L Scholarship was expanded this year to honor students in two categories: Art & Design and Programming & Engineering. Daybreak Games established the scholarship program to encourage college students to pursue careers in the video game industry.

The National STEM Video Game Challenge announced today the winners of the fourth annual national competition that challenges students to develop games or game concepts that promote science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects / learning.

Game design students at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois have released a mobile game to show the effects of blood sugar imbalances in those with type 2 diabetes. The game is called Coco’s Cove, and puts players in control of a cute little monkey in a multi-level puzzle game that illustrates the ups and downs of someone diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. A subtle gameplay mechanic changes how the player moves through the level in a light-hearted, amusing way.

Designers and recruiters from Santa Monica-based video game developer Riot Games recently met with students and faculty members at Ex’pression College in Emeryville, CA. The League of Legends makers shared details about the company’s work culture with students and reviewed the reels of junior and senior students enrolled in Ex’pression’s Animation & Visual Effects, Game Art & Design, Interactive Audio, and Sound Arts programs.

According to new research from the University of Tennessee, games that use motion sensing camera technology like those that use Microsoft's Kinect are better at promoting and fostering an active lifestyle compared to traditional activities. The study, spearheaded by Doctor Hollie Raynor, director of the University of Tennessee's Healthy Eating and Activity Laboratory, was recently published in the Games for Health journal.

Some good news for Xbox One fans who don't pay for an Xbox Live Gold account or want to dump it at some point: you won't need it to play Halo 5: Guardians in cooperative mode. Series developer 343 Industries said that it does not want to divide Halo 5: Guardians' multiplayer player base, so it is also going to give away more than a dozen DLC maps for free. These news come from the cover story of the latest issue of Game Informer.

Epic Games has teamed up with architectural site Ronen Bekerman for a competition to bring realistic architecture into gaming via assets for Unreal Engine 4. That competition is called the "2015 Vineyard Challenge," and challenges competitors to "interpret a modern winery setting" in Unreal Engine 4. Competitors' entries will be judged on lighting, design, and interactivity.

The newest edition of the Merriam-Webster unabridged dictionary is adding a number of new internet-related terms including "meme," "emoji," and "net neutrality." The new edition will feature more than 1,700 new entries, according to an announcement this week by Merriam-Webster announced this week.

On the latest episode of BBC Weekend, psychologist and Stanford University professor Phillip Zimbardo, discusses his new book, Man (Dis)connected. In his book (co-authored with Nikita D. Coulombe), Zimbardo posits that the excessive use of videogames, online porn, and a lifestyle of isolation are contributing to a "crisis of masculinity." This in turn contributes to erectile dysfunction, boredom at school, little or no interest in human contact, or in participating in society, he claims.

New research from Texas Tech University published this month in the journal Communication Research suggests that cooperative gaming can lead to pro-social behavior after the game is over.

The research comes from two studies spearheaded by John Velez, an assistant professor of journalism and electronic media in the College of Media & Communication (with contributions from Tobias Greitemeyer of University of Innsbruck, Jodi Whitaker of University of Arizona, and David Ewoldsen and Brad Bushman from Ohio State University).

While it should come as no great shock to anyone, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is funding pro-copyright protection research through its global research grant program. The program is part of the trade group's "Academic Outreach program." The program gives out $20,000 grants to academics doing research on various topics related to copyright infringement and piracy.

Video games retailer GameStop has announced an employee scholarship program that aims to give back a little for those improving their lives through higher education. The scholarship program is in partnership with Scholarship America and is an expansion of the Gamer Fund employee relief program. The program, officially called "Power to the Scholars," will award 40 scholarships of $2,500 to employees during the 2015/2016 school year.

The South Australian State Government has launched a special program that lets students help create national park upgrades by designing and creating elements in Minecraft, according to The Lead - South Australia.

An excellent and exclusive interview with Mark DeLoura, former Senior Advisor for Digital Media at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, reveals that the Obama Administration has turned the corner on the debate about the negative effects of video games.

A new University of Missouri study may be the beginning of disproving the idea that people with autism spectrum disorders who play violent video games are more likely to commit acts of real-world violence. This assertion gained some traction in the media after the December 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. In the aftermath of the December 2012 shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the national media focused on shooter Adam Lanza's emotional issues related to suffering from Autism and his exposure to violent video games.

Tweed Couch Games (an indie studio made up of three student developers - Jessica Rose Marcotte, Allison Cole, and Zach Miller) has developed a game called In Tune that teaches men and women about the importance of gaining consent when it comes to intimate physical contact.

Video game research initiative Yale play2PREVENT (p2P) Lab has signed a two-year partnership with Yogome to develop educational mobile games for elementary school children. Researchers in the p2P Lab will work with Yogome to develop math, science, computer programming, and sustainability games. Games developed through the collaboration will be based on the Common Core framework and adhere strictly to child privacy standards.

The BBC will give away one million micro computing devices to children in the UK as part of its "Make It Digital" initiative. Through this initiative, the BBC will distribute a wearable coding device called a "Micro Bit" to every year 7 student (ages 11 to 13) in the country, totalling one million devices.

Legendary game developer Brenda Romero and outspoken writer Leigh Alexander will host this year's #1ReasonToBe session at the Game Developers Conference next month in San Francisco. Alexander is the Editor at Large at Gamasutra, while Romero is Program Director/Game Developer at UC Santa Cruz and co-founder of Romero Games.

An interesting Game Developers Conference panel discussion will explore the moral and ethical dilemmas real soldiers face during combat and if these elements can (or should be) properly simulated in video games. The discussion is titled, "Gaming the Laws of War: Can Real Consequences Mean Real Fun?"

Organizers of the Game Developers Conference today revealed details on this year's Game Career Seminar, a one-day GDC-related event that helps those new to the industry get some solid advice and best practices from industry leaders.

The one-day program takes place Friday, March 6th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, promises to give attendees the chance to learn about the industry, network with leading video game industry professionals and HR representatives from leading companies.

Feminist Frequency founder Anita Sarkeesian will receive the Harvard Humanist of the Year 2014 Award on Sunday, February 8 at the Harvard University Science Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The annual award is handed out by the Humanist Community at Harvard University. The Humanist Community at Harvard (or HCH as it likes to be called) is "dedicated to building, educating, and nurturing a diverse community of Humanists, atheists, agnostics, and the nonreligious at Harvard and beyond."

Infophile: @Matt: Apparently Dan Aykroyd actually is involved. We don't know how yet, though, but he's apparently going to be in the movie in some way.08/02/2015 - 4:17am

Mattsworkname: I still hold that not having the origonal cast invovled in any way hurts this movie, and unless the 4 actresses in the lead roles can some how measure up to the comic timing of the origonal cast, i just don't see it being a success08/02/2015 - 12:46am

Mattsworkname: Mecha: regardless of what you think of it, GB 2 was a finanical success and for it time did well with audiances ,even if it wasnt as popular as the first08/02/2015 - 12:45am

MechaTama31: I think they're better off trying to do something different, than trying to be exactly the same and having every little difference held up as a shortcoming. Uncanny valley.08/01/2015 - 11:57pm

MechaTama31: Having the original cast didn't do much for... that pink-slimed atrocity which we must never speak of.08/01/2015 - 11:56pm

Mattsworkname: Andrew: If the new ghostbusters bombs, I cant help but feel it'll be cause it removed the origonal cast and changed the formula to much08/01/2015 - 8:31pm

Andrew Eisen: Not the best look but that appears to be a PKE meter hanging from McCarthy's belt.08/01/2015 - 7:34pm

Mattsworkname: You know what game is a lot of fun? rocket league. It' s a soccer game thats actually fun to play cause your A Freaking CAR!08/01/2015 - 7:02pm

Mattsworkname: Nomad colossus did a little video about it, showing the world and what can be explored in it's current form. It's worth a look, and he uses text for commentary as not to break the immerison08/01/2015 - 5:49pm

Mattsworkname: I feel some more mobility would have made it more interesting and I feel that a larger more diverse landscape with better graphiscs would help, but as a concept, it interests me08/01/2015 - 5:48pm

Andrew Eisen: Huh. I guess I'll have to check out a Let's Play to get a sense of the game.08/01/2015 - 5:47pm

Mattsworkname: It did, I found the idea of exploring a world at it's end, exploring the abandoned city of a disappeared alien race and the planets various knooks and crannies intriqued me.08/01/2015 - 5:46pm

Andrew Eisen: Did it appeal to you? If so, what did you find appealing?08/01/2015 - 5:43pm

Mattsworkname: Its an interesting concept, but it's not gonna appeal to everyone thats for sure,08/01/2015 - 5:40pm

Andrew Eisen: That sounds horrifically boring. Doesn't sound like an interesting use of its time dilation premise either. 08/01/2015 - 5:36pm